at 53 years of age i am lucky to still have my father alive and active. to be able to share a sunset the same sunset we have always shared. to be able to share these moments, and continue to share this story that will forever be a part of our lives. it's true that nothing is impossible if you fight with passion. i believe that the intent is more important than the outcome. but in order to succeed, you must try. nando is a successful businessman living in montevideo with his wife and children. maybe this experience has allowed me to enjoy things i never enjoyed before. i enjoy the present, the past is passed, the future is not here yet.

and so, i enjoy the present very much because i sincerely believe that i don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. people often live in the future, think of the future. i think of today. today is the most important day of my life. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning my fellow americans and welcome to

the "full court press" here on current tv this tuesday morning february 12. oh boy. lot going on today. and we are going to tell you what's happening all around the country, here in our nation's capital, around the globe as well and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. good have you with us today and it is a big day because president obama is poised to give his state of the union address tonight. he will say -- he's expected to put forth an aggressive, progressive agenda. he will tell us the state of the union is strong. which it is. meanwhile, catholics still can't believe that pope benedict xvi is actually resigning after all that hasn't happened in 600 years. joe biden says yeah, i'm thinking about it. we'll see how that goes. all of that and a lot more. first, let's get the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson standing by at our studios in los angeles. hi lisa, good morning.

>> hey bill. that's right. we're all awaiting the president's big state of the union address today taking place from the u.s. capitol at 9:00 eastern tonight. we're expecting to focus on quite a few issues including immigration, gun safety, same-sex marriage equality and of course, the economy. gun violence though is the big question here. not whether or not he'll address it because of course, he will. but which aspects he will choose to talk about and how much the issue will dominate the night. we know about 30 house democrats are bringing victims of gun violence as their guests tonight. and so are other members of the administration. all in all, we can expect 120 of tonight's attendees to have a pass by gun violence. gabby giffords and her husband mark kelly, will be in the audience. one other thing to watch for tonight is the obama rubio dynamic. rubio is slated to give the g.o.p. response to president obama's state of the union so this is really rubio's time to

shine. he is the fastest-rising republican star for the party in years and tonight is his chance to impress millions of voters who have not yet formed an opinion on him. but there's also the immigration issue to consider. both rubio and the president are pushing immigration agendas so tonight it should be interesting to see how much acknowledgement the president decides to give rubio. we're back with more bill press after the break. stay with us. billy zane stars in barabbas.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

>> bill: the state of the union is strong! yeah, expect president obama to say that tonight. and he is right. good morning everybody. what do you say? hello, hello hello. welcome. welcome to the "full court press" this tuesday morning february 12th. great to see you today. and there's a lot going on. we're coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours on current tv, all three hours on your local progressive talk radio station for the next three hours. and on sirius x.m. for this hour only. there it is. front page of "the new york times" today. pope resigns with church at a crossroads, we told you that this time exactly yesterday morning. that's when the news broke here on the "full court press" and there's still a lot of reaction to that. which we will talk about and look forward to tonight's state of the union address as well. and some of the unwelcome guests

who might show up or might have been invited. lots to cover. lots you're going to want to talk about. you can do so by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. remember, it is a two-way street here. town hall meeting. you get to talk. 1-866-55-press. you also get to send us your comments on twitter at bpshow at bpshow. we'll follow you on twitter and on facebook. facebookfacebook.com/billpressshow. again, lots to cover this morning. we'll get into it with our team here. peter ogborn and dan henning as always. >> good morning, guys. welcome. >> happy tuesday. >> you all have your fleeces on this morning. i didn't wear mine this morning. >> it's a sweater. >> bill: that's a fleece, isn't it, dan? i like the look. i'm not saying it critically. i've been wearing my fleece a lot lately. i decided to wear a sweater. >> it is about 14 degrees in

this control room because of all of the equipment in here so the air-conditioner blasts down. >> even during the winter. >> even during the winter. >> it is cold in here. >> bill: phil backert has the phones and cyprian on the job with the video cam as always. lot of reaction to the pope resigning. the cardinal is pretty upset about it. it was a delayed reaction to his announcement because he made his announcement in latin. even the cardinals most of them did not get it right away, what he was saying. they were waiting for the translation. and there was one journalist who works at the vatican who does know latin. he got the scoop on his fellow journalists. >> who says latten is a dead language? >> bill: that guy was rewarded for knowing his latin. the president even put out a

statement congratulating the pope and saying how much he enjoyed meeting him and working with him over the last four years. david letterman even brought it up last night with a little different reaction. stunned at the news. >> yeah, pope benedict is quitting. boy, you think about that. yep. that's a tall hat to fill. [ laughter ] >> bill: ba-da-bing. >> he had a press conference today. he said he wants to spend more time with his wife and kids. [ laughter ] >> bill: we're so used to that. spend more time with my family. they all say that. david letterman did point out that there was a -- a physical disability that he was dealing with too. >> he's got a chronic neck problem. chronic neck problem. it just really drains him. he's constantly fatigued. he has a chronic neck problem and apparently the chronic neck problem is for look the other way so many times.

>> bill: ooh. [ applause ] >> wow. >> bill: okay. we've got a lot coming up. summer sherrod brown will be here in studio. very excited to see the good senator again. joe cirincione, our foreign policy guru here, head of the ploughshares fund to talk about president obama's expected announcement tonight. he will cut our nuclear arsenal drastically from 1700 down to 1,000. it is tuesday. igor volsky will be here from think progress. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> on this tuesday, other headlines making news, solid ratings for the grammy awards on cbs sunday night. the broadcast saw its second highest viewership. 28 and a half million people tuned in to watch but no match for last year's show which came a day after whitney houston's death. nearly 40 million tuned in to that show. this year's musical broadcast

beat both the "american idol" finale and last country's country music association awards. >> bill: they're getting better and better. >> pepsi is releasing a new beverage for mornings called kick start. it is a fruit-flavored mountain dew beverage coming in orange, citrus and fruit punch flavors. it is flaved with real fruit juice, mixed with mountain dew. it has more caffeine than a regular mountain dew but far less than a starbucks. >> that has more caffeine than most sodas. >> but less caffeine than a cup of starbucks coffee. it will hit store shelves in two weeks. >> bill: so like -- this is like a can of -- >> a can of soda -- of orange-flavored soda basically but it is meant for morning consumption. it is an energy drink basically. >> i think you should follow up on the report that it contains real fruit juice. >> bill: i'll still take my

diet pepsi. >> apple's iphone has always had a lot of buzz and a lot of people have one but not everyone is happy with their iphone. a new user satisfaction of 94,000 people by on device research places the iphone in fifth place in smart phone satisfaction. that's behind four different android phones. motorola's atrix hd is number one followed by the destroyed razr m. smart phone users in the u.k. are much happier. ite phone ranked second over there. >> bill: i'm happy with my iphone. i love it. i wouldn't even want to try any other phone. i like it so much. >> i like my iphone. i think apple needs to innovate somehow, some way, pretty quickly because the competition has caught up. >> they have absolutely caught up. >> bill: yeah, you're right. but i'm just saying i'm one happy customer here. all right, apple.

check in the mail? i gotta tell you, you know, where we start every morning kind of depends on what we think is the biggest story or what really, really i'm upset about. we're all upset about that particular day. today it is one that really pisses me off. that is about the state of the union tonight. you know, it's part of the pageantry of washington. every president does it. and people pay attention because we want to know the president sets forth his agenda. some day it will be her agenda, for the coming year or for the coming years and also gives a report on how we're doing. on the economy. on other issues, how much progress we make. where we come and where we're going. and it's treated -- taken very seriously here in washington. always a lot of build-up to it. you got the senate and the

house. and also, there are always honored guests, the supreme court members are there. the joint chiefs of staff are there. the president's cabinet is there. outstanding americans are invited. as either as guests of members of the president or guests of members of the house or of the senate. i've been there and honored to be there twice as a guest of a member of congress. it started by the way then there are also celebrities who are present or people who are -- that the president or members of congress want to honor by having them present. it started with the crash of air florida flight 90. when was it? back in -- i've got it right up here. when ronald reagan was in the white house at any rate. >> 1982. >> bill: crashed into the

14th street bridge here. there was a brave young guy named lenny scut knick, how could you forget that name, who worked for the congressional budget office, on his way to work sees the plane crash takes off his shoes and clothes and dives into the icy potomac by the way to rescue one of the passengers who was floating and in trouble there. and president reagan invited him to the state of the union address. he was in the box with first lady nancy reagan and he recognized him and everybody gave him a round of applause. that started a tradition where presidents will particularly -- will traditionally invite heros from afghanistan from iraq, cops firefighters, you know, again, members of the military. people that all americans owe a vote of thanks to. sometimes they'll be regularred. sometimes they won't but they're there as guests of honor at the state of the union.

well tonight that tradition is going to be destroyed forever. unless john boehner acts. because in the gallery tonight as a guest of congressman steve stockman maybe you've heard this, is going to be rocker, loud mouth a-hole, ted nugent. yeah. steve stockman says he is honored to have a patriot like ted nugent as his guest at the state of the union. i mean can you believe it? ted nugent. this is a guy who has, in the last year, threatened the life of president obama called him all kinds of names. been investigated by the secret service for threatening the life of the president. he has called hillary clinton a bitch. he has attacked senator dianne feinstein and senator barbara boxer among others and he is a guest of a member of congress tonight at the state of the

union address. unfreakin' believable. here he is, sounds a little hard but you'll hear it. here he is at a concert last year where first of all -- he's got a machine gun on stage. okay. so he's a member of the nra. who cares he's a member of the nra. that's not the problem. that's not the issue. who cares he's against gun control. that's not the issue. the issue is his language and his actions. here he is on stage with a machine gun talking about the president of the united states. >> obama. obama is a piece of [ bleep ] clear cheer. [ cheering ] >> bill: in case you can't quite make it up, he might want to suck on one of these a machine gun. you punk. obama, he's nothing but a piece of crap except he didn't say crap. this is the president of the united states.

okay. then he goes on to talk about the secretary of state, hillary clinton. [ indiscernible ] >> bill: hillary you might want to ride one of these again, machine gun into the sunset, you worthless bitch. he goes on, senator dianne feinstein, senator boxer. [ indiscernible ] [ cheering ] >> bill: suck on one of these again, machine gun, you worthless whore. he said the same thing about barbara boxer. he is a guest of honor by republican congressman steve stockman at the state of the union tonight. what i want to know is this really, really frosts me. 1-866-55-press. how about you? how dare they allow him to enter the house of representatives. what i want to know is where's john boehner in all of this? the person who controls this

event. the person who's in charge is in the house chambers is the speaker of the house of representatives. doesn't he have any idea what disrespect that this brings to the entire congress? i mean for john boehner to allow this guy to get in there shows he has no -- there's no sense of dignity anymore about the congress. there's no respect anymore given to members of congress or to the president of the united states. i mean i really think having him in there is an insult to the president, to every member of congress, and to the american people. and john boehner ought to show some balls here and step up and say you know what? we have some standards in this congress. we're not going to let a scumbag who threatens the life of the president of the united states, calls the secretary of state a bitch, and calls senators whores and asks hem to suck on a machine gun, we're not going to allow him in this chamber.

>> you have to think about what it is the president is going to be talking about. you know gun control is going to be a big part of what he talks about. and so when you have a guy -- there are people who like their guns and would like to have their guns then there are gun nuts. ted nugent is a gun nut. the fact he will be there while the president is talking to victims of the sandy hook shooting that will be in attendance and ted nugent will be there is really sick. really sick. >> bill: last year, remember gabby giffords came into the chamber. it was one of the most emotional moments. everybody stood and applauded her. you're going to have ted nugent giving the same respect that gabby giffords gets? this is sick! sick sick, sick! and steve stockman, number one and john boehner i hold responsible. let's talk about it. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." address.

he'll address gun control, immigration reform, and the economy. we however, promise to bring you a current perspective. only on current tv. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu. ♪ ♪

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour here. i was just looking during the break, not only -- we're talking about the idea that -- the very idea that ted nugent is going to be a guest at the state of the union tonight. not only have hero -- military heroes been guests of the president -- he's not a guest of the president. but he's a guest of congressman steve stockman. but not only have military heroes been honored and recognized at former -- at previous state of the union speeches. but also sports stars.

sammy sosa was in the box during president clinton's day. so was hank aaron. the great hank aaron. put ted nugent up along those marines or members of the military or the sports heroes, just sick. let's say hello to ed from frederick, maryland. hey, ed, what do you say? >> caller: hi. i was going to say i don't really think nugent will get anywhere near the respect that went to gabrielle giffords and on the drug -- >> bill: i would hope not. but i don't even think he belongs in the chamber. >> caller: i would like to see him not allowed in there for the things he's said and done. but as far as the drug controversial going on, i'm in favor of most of the laws they're propose but i don't think they would do anything to remove either the crazy violence those people find a way to create mayhem or the day-to-day violence -- >> bill: i tell you what, ed, i'm willing to talk about drugs any time except right now. we're talking about ted nugent.

appreciate your call. tony in owe col la, florida. -- in ocala florida. >> caller: ted nugent is an obscenity. i've never in 75 years seen the kind of disrespect paid for the president to the united states because he's a black man. they cannot tolerate the idea that a black man is in the white house. and they go at him every single day. >> bill: yep. tony, i gotta tell you this is against president obama. he was the first black president. i would have the same position on ted nugent if george bush were in the white house and this was some wacko person who thinks we ought to have gun control. he was investigated by the secret service and threatened the president and you're invited as a guest to the state of the union? jesus. what's going on? >> caller: i was going to say inviting ted nugent to the

president's state of the union address? that's almost like inviting charles manson to sharon tate's funeral. >> bill: i was wondering where you were going with that. i'll buy that. it is just sick, sick. again, where is the leadership? what is john boehner thinking? because by not -- by keeping his silence, if he doesn't act that means john boehner agrees with everything ted nugent is. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

>> bill: here we go. 33 minutes after the hour now on the "full court press." this tuesday morning. february 12th. state of the union tonight. 9:00? usually is 9:00. 9:00 p.m. east coast time. 6:00 pacific. we will be tuned in and one way -- the importance of every word that comes out of the president's mouth is to go to thinkprogress because they'll be live blogging, the speech tonight and they'll tell you all of the facts that go behind everything the president says and how it all fits in. and that's just -- one reason why igor volsky is up so early this morning. another reason to join us as we does every tuesday morning. deputy editor of think progress. igor, good morning. >> good morning, good morning. >> bill: the team here, we've been talking about -- you have written about this yesterday. think progress as well, as soon as the news came out nut case steve stockman from texas has

invited nut case ted futurent as his guest of honor. so far john boehner hasn't said a peep which means he must thing this is a good idea. >> the big question is who's going to invite trump? the race is on for another guy to invite trump so that you have all of them there. >> bill: or charles manson or timothy mcveigh. too bad he's dead. we could invite him. invite any old -- nut. >> the state of the union is now going to turn out to be the correspondent's dinner where people will try to -- >> bill: one up each other. now you've got nugent and -- i don't think it would be that far-fetched for someone to bring in donald trump. i think it would be stupid but i could see somebody doing it. >> bill: i think it is the speaker's job to maintain the dignity of the house to the extent that there's any left. >> by the way speak of dignity i want to mention because we've gotten a lot of comments about what a great american ted nugent

is, a guy who walks around with an american flag guitar. gun-toting. when the draft came, he did not want to serve -- >> bill: i read about this. so what did he do? >> this is from an interview. i'm going to pull some quotes. but he says basically, i was playing rock n' roll like a deviant. i didn't want to go into the draft. give me a break. i was having too much fun. he says he stopped showering 30 days prior to the physical. he didn't go to the restroom. and then right before he went to go take his physical to serve in the draft he went to the restroom in his pants. >> bill: he did an al roker. >> except on a much larger scale. >> bill: he pooped his pants and got out of the draft. this is the pay theory quote to use the word -- steve stockman's word. >> on twitter we're tweeting at bpshow at bpshow. jim says the secret service

should do a precautionary cavity search on this moron. i'm talking about representative stockman and nugent, too. jean says nugent is disgusting, mentally challenged chicken hawk and a draft dodger and jason bright with the unkindness cut of all. his music sucks too if you want to call it music. >> bill: so here is -- we played you some of ted nugent's comments earlier. here he is at the nra convention last year. this is what prompted the secret service to call him in and say let's talk. >> if you want more of those kinds of evil, anti-american people in the supreme court then don't get involved and let obama take office again. because i'll tell you this right now, if barack obama becomes the president in november, again, i will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. >> bill: what does that mean? >> we told the secret service

after this news came out, what are you guys going to do? is this a problem for you? they didn't have a comment. but presumably, a guy who threatened the president is a red flag. he said thankfully to "the new york times," he's not bringing any weapons. he said i'm going to have to demilitarize for this one. >> bill: he's not bringing a gun. just the fact that he is there. is outrageous. igor, you have reported that steve stockman himself, there are questions about this guy right? >> he's back for a second term in congress now. he was around in the 1990s. he was elected -- campaigning against gun control. gun safety. and questions were raised at the time of the oklahoma city bombing. he had a lot of ties to militia movements. he received a coded message presumably alerting his office or whoever whoever the fax was addressed to, that something was

coming. there was an investigation about did he turn over that message quickly enough to the authorities. he eventually was cleared but there was a cloud of suspicion. there were articles and articles written about it. this is a guy whose ideologiology guns and militia fits squarely in the ted nugent view. in this cases, it is not surprising at all that he would bring them. >> bill: we'll continue to take your comments at bpshow and by phone at 1-866-55-press. unless john boehner steps up and says wait a minute, we do have certain standards here, ted nugent will be in the gallery tonight at the state of the union. i dare him. you know also -- you know what already pisses me off is the cameras will be focused on him and when president obama is talking about gun control, it will be a split screen. president obama and ted nugent. >> you're also going to have -- the victims of shootings there.

>> bill: yes! >> who the democrats invited. are you going to have split screens of that? how do they feel with nugent in the audience, this guy who wants guns guns, guns. >> bill: parents of kids who were killed at newtown will be there just as gabby giffords was there last year. mark kelly was in the box with the first lady. it is so sick. i just can't believe it. again, that john boehner would allow this to happen. it brings disgrace on every member of congress and on the american people. we deserve better than this. you know, there is other stuff going on. so today at 2:30, the senate -- armed services committee is going to vote on whether or not to recommend to the full senate that they confirm chuck hagel. some republicans have said they're going to walk out on the committee members. they're going to walk out. what's the latest? >> the republican aides who spoke to politico said republicans will walk out. we called the republicans.

said are you going to walk out? spoke to crews who were on the committee. they said we're not walking out. they're not going to vote for him but they're not going to walk out. it looks like he will have the votes in committee. it will move out into the senate. but you always have a possibility of something happening. senator inhoff from oklahoma said he might put a hold or he might try to delay the confirmation. you certainly saw lindsey graham on sunday say until he finds out what the president had for breakfast on the morning of the benghazi attacks, he will put a hold on everything and then some. it is unclear what the final confirmation is but it is a step forward at 2:30. >> bill: if they call a filibuster and john mccain said he would not support a filibuster, it looks like there would be 60 votes to stop the filibuster. >> that's right. >> bill: can you stop -- do you know, can you stop a hold? if inhoff puts a hold on, that's not a filibuster.

that's a different animal, right? >> it's a delay. it's a delay tactic. so i think it merely pushes it off into the future. >> bill: but my understanding one senator can put a hold on somebody's nomination and until that senator agrees to lift it, there's nothing the other senators can do. is that correct? >> we saw that a lot with coburn putting a hold on everything, on legislation, on spending legislation. the pressure here will be fairly remarkable. >> bill: to go along without a secretary of defense. >> i think pressure from the pentagon, military leaders the public not having a guy in charge of the pentagon. it's not going to be sustainable for them. >> bill: the center for american progress has a lot of ties to the white house. so you're going to be live blogging tonight. what does that mean? >> he's going to say something and we're going to provide the context. he's going to say we've reduced spending. we're going to have the numbers that debt has fallen by $4.5

trillion by 2010. not only the speech. we'll be doing the rebuttal. marco rubio's rebuttal. the english part of it we'll push back upon. check out think progress this morning. we're going to have a video put together. you know, you heard a lot during the republican national convention of i'm a child of immigrants. my grandmother came to this country. my great-grandparents. we're going to have a compilation. rubio is going to talk about immigration. of all of these republicans during the election touting their immigrant roots. touting those connections. are they going to stand in the way of comprehensive immigration reform. when it is politically convenient, everyone is an immigrant. we're immigrants. watch for that. >> bill: we're already here. pull up the gangplank so nobody else can get on board. so all right let's be honest here. tell the truth.

so you have an advanced copy of the speech. >> i actually wrote it. [ laughter ] pretty good. >> "bill press show" exclusive. >> bill: i'm sure he leaked -- >> outsourcing things to think progress these days. >> bill: igor volsky, deputy editor from think progress. we'll take your calls. including and especially ted nugent. he doesn't belong in the nation's capitol let alone in the house of representatives chambers for the state of the union tonight. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

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>> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 13 minutes -- nothing like live tv. 13 minutes before the top of the hour. are we live? >> we'll do it live! >> bill: is this really on tv? it is the "full court press" this tuesday february 12. good to see you this morning. again with igor volsky, deputy editor of think progress. thinkprogress.org in studio with us. we're talking ted nugent, state of the union chuck hagel and other important issues. we'll get back to your comments and calls in just a second after we give a shout out. as we're going to do from now on to one of my listeners who has taken advantage of our invitation to check out income incomeathome.com. and have started reaping the benefits of that. today's shout out goes to melissa. melissa heard about

incomeathome.com. the only work at home company we've endorsed here. now she reports that even part-time, she's doubled what she earned at her old job. she loves it. sets her own hours. she's home for her kids, with her kids and loves earning money from her own kitchen table. melissa, way to go! so now let's hope that maybe you can join melissa and be our next incomeathome.com shout out. if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck like she was, job security, working long hours at a job you don't like, join her and check out incomeathome.com. incomeathome.com. that's income at home. .com. you could get the shout out tomorrow. peter, let's go back to the social media world. >> you can find us not only on twitter at bpshow but you can find us on facebook.

facebook.com/billpressshow. mary bell says i'm with you, bill but we have to consider with all of the lies and insults, it only raises our respect for president obama. the last landslide election indicates americans can clearly see through the fog. this is the last gasp of the tea bags and our president stands tall. >> bill: i agree. we as the american people deserve some respect too and so do members of congress. >> we're on twitter at bpshow. steve stockman makes me ashamed to be a texan for inviting ted futurent to state of the union address. aria says why does igor volsky look so cute today. maybe it is his glasses or sweater or his intelligence. >> ooh. >> all of the above. >> bill: i'm just getting i just want to throw up with these guests. we get these guests in here and who was it? >> neil king got a love note. of i mean i get them constantly.

>> bill: michael tomasky got one. >> you'll have to help me deal with this later. it is a little overwhelming. >> bill: this is like a match-up? >> it is a meat market. >> bill: welcome to the meat market. look, let's say hello igor, if we can sam calling from rochester, new york. hi sam. >> caller: how you doing? >> bill: good. what's up? >> caller: this tea bag representative stockman, he refers to nugent as a patriot. he's nothing more than a coward and a draft dodger. his presence at the state of the union dishonors veterans of the vietnam war and all victims of gun violence. he's a typical tea bag republican hero. he's a chicken hawk. he's a neocon who never had the guts to serve in the military. and he's a pedophile. >> bill: well, i don't know about the last one. >> caller: it's true. >> bill: sam, thank you. don't run away. i'm going to put you on hold, sam. and just -- no?

>> let's go to somebody else. >> bill: sam appreciate the call. igor looking at the state of the union tonight there have been some leaks out of the white house. what can we expect? >> i think the first question is nugent going to yell something out? >> bill: by the way i hope he does. that will be the end of him. i hope he does. >> the end of stockman maybe too. question number two is what is he going to say about a the executive orders that we've now seen some reporting on. this idea that look, congress isn't going to do much. they're not going to advance the obama agenda. so in the second term, he is getting out of washington. talking to americans directly about cybersecurity about gun safety. about protection for gays and lesbians who work for the government, make sure they're not fired because of their sexual orientation and gender identity because congress isn't going to take up that kind of

bill. so what is he going to say about what he can do through administrative action, through executive order? and then, of course, you have the big issues. big issues he laid out at the inaugural. climate change. is he going to add details to the call to action? what is he going to do about jobs? are we going to see a jobs plan? how much is he going to talk about the deficit which of course, would be playing into this republican framework that we need more cuts in spending, more cuts in spending. so a lot to look forward to. >> bill: immigration. >> immigration. of course, immigration. now the argument -- >> bill: and gun safety. >> the argument on immigration i think thankfully has shifted from the inaugural. it is no longer should we do immigration. do we include a path to citizenship or not. gun safety a universal background checks, there seems to be some bipartisan agreement on that. the thing that surprises me is that you don't see the white house preview any of these pieces. so i don't know what that means.

does that mean there aren't going to be any big new initiatives? or is it kind of going to be this aggressive speech, something that we saw in the inaugural that they want the impact of that to be contained you know, to that night and after. >> bill: there was one leak yesterday in "the new york times" that the president's going to propose reducing our nuclear arsenal from 1700 missiles down to 1,000 which is huge. >> north korean news this morning that they've tested another weapon. does that change his calculus? certainly the republican opposition has now, only intensified. >> bill: the speech is tonight. nobody will be following it more closely or providing more information than think progress. thinkprogress.org. check it out. make it your go-to page along with billpressshow.com. igor, you deserve all of the compliments that you get. we'll be back and check in with more of the e-mails. >> announcer: radio meets

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the president will deliver the annual state of the union address. he'll address gun control, immigration reform, and the economy. we however, promise to bring you

a current perspective. only on current tv. >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: congresswoman jan schakowsky joins us in the next hour here of the "full court press." peter, what's the world saying out there? >> you can send us an e-mail at billpressshow.com. barbara james says i just called representative steve stockman's office to blast him about his invitation to ted nugent. this is the most absurd thing i've heard recently.

>> bill: that's a good idea. >> call steve stockman's office. >> bill: call boehner's office too. >> didn't ted nugent promise to be dead or in jail by now? see, you just can't trust these screwballs. >> bill: very good point. bill, you have great guests. yeah. that's because we don't have john mccain and lindsey graham and we never will. we'll never play any ted nugent music either. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning friends and neighbors. good see you this morning.

welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you live from our nation's capital and our studio on capitol hill and reaching out to you everywhere on this great land of ours this tuesday morning, february 12th. good morning and great to see you. the morning of the state of the union address. washington, living in eager anticipation of that big event tonight and what the president might have to say. he is going to -- expected to deliver and to put forth in front of congress an aggressive, progressive agenda. round two of what he started in the inaugural address. he will say that the state of the union is strong which it is. catholics still can't believe the pope is actually resigning. can't blame him. after all, it hasn't happened for some 600 years. joe biden says yeah, i'm thinking about it. all right. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here on the "full court press" this morning but first let's get the latest. she's got it. standing by in los angeles, lisa

ferguson with today's current news update. hello, lisa. good morning. >> hey bill, good morning, everyone. chuck hangel will finally get a confirmation vote today in the senate armed services committee. democrats are working to overcome republican opposition and appoint hagel to his position as defense secretary as early as this week. community chairman carl levin said members will have an opportunity for discussion today followed by a vote. some senate republicans are threatening a filibuster which would make for just a third time in history cabinet members to work to block that. levin is predicting all 55 democrats will back hagel on the senate floor along with at least five republicans. that does give hagel the 60 votes need avoid a filibuster and should get him securely in the pentagon. rick perry is in california this week trying to convince businesses to set up shop in texas. last monday, perry made an ad buy inviting california companies to enjoy the tax perks available in the lone star

state. this week, the push takes the texas governor to san francisco silicon valley, orange county. he says building a business is tough but building a business in california is pretty much impossible. president obama is calling north korea's nuclear test a threat to the united states. this is the country's third successful nuclear test and it is now warning of stronger actions. we're now hearing reports the u.n. security council has scheduled an emergency meeting. more bill press up next. stay with us. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more

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>> bill: scientist say it looks like north korea has just performed another nuclear test. these are the last people on the planet you want to have nuclear weapons. hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it is the "full court press." that's just one of the stories we're looking at here this morning as we cover what's going on on this tuesday morning. february 12. anywhere in this great land of ours. anywhere on the planet. including our nation's capital. that's where we're coming from. we've got it covered. we'll tell you what's going on and give you a chance to sound off about it. love to hear from you and invite your calls at 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. let us know what you think about these issues what they mean to you and to your family. you can do so also online if you prefer. keeping up with the world of social media on twitter. we are at bpshow, at bpshow. love to hear from you or on

facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. as long as there is a current tv, there will be a current tv chat room. that's always going on where you can jump in and debate the issues back and forth with your fellow "full court pressers" across the land. if you go to current.com and click on the chat room. you are in. and the team here, team press hard at work this morning already. peter ogborn and dan henning. with phil backert on the phones and cyprian bowlding on the video cam indeed. yesterday, i was at the white house yesterday. president obama very moving, very powerful ceremony where he awarded the medal of honor to a real hero of the afghan war. this is the guy -- not ted nugent. this guy clint romesha former army staff sergeant is the kind of person who should be a guest of honor at the state of the union.

incredible story of what he and his colleagues did how they fought back. there were something like over -- over 300 -- the americans fought their way out at combat outposts. president obama describing a little bit what came down. >> keating it seemed would be overrun. that's when clint romesha decided to retaining that camp. clint gathered up his guys and they began to fight their way back. storming one building then another. >> bill: and the president pointed out also that there were -- the families of eight americans who lost their lives in that battle were there in the east room yesterday as well as some of the comrades and colleagues of clint romesha. the president said they all deserved a medal of honor. >> obama: these men were outnumbered, outgun and almost overrun. looking back, one of them said i'm surprised any of us made it

out. but they are here today. i would ask these soldiers, this band of brothers, to stand and accept the gratitude of our entire nation. [ applause ] >> bill: president obama in the east room of the white house yesterday. congresswoman jan schakowsky is going to join us later. senator sherrod brown from ohio will be our guest in studio at the top of the next hour. we'll talk about the pope and what's ahead for the catholic church with father thomas reese former editor of america magazine. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday. trouble at maker's mark. the kentucky bourbon maker has become so popular it is having trouble keeping up with demand. so to try to stretch the product, the distillery is lowering the alcohol content of the bourbon. they are watering it down to be able to make more bottles. "usa today" reporting they're

diluting the famous red wax top bottles from 45% alcohol by volume to 42%. it is a drop from 90 to 84 proof. the company's growth over the last two years has been significantly greater than they were expecting. >> so go and screw it up by adding water to it. >> bill: i don't see that's the way to go. build another distillery so they can produce more. >> it would take a long time because they have to age all of the bourbon. >> destroy the product. >> how about this. how about instead of diluting your product you just raise the price on it? >> because they don't want to put it out of reach. they're proud of their pricing. >> if they're proud of it, then don't ruin it by changing it. this is new coke all over again. >> bill: yep. >> the international olympic committee -- >> bill: i won't drink any for the rest of the day. >> you never drink it anyway. >> the international olympic committee is meeting in switzerland today to vote on dropping one of the current 26

olympic summer sports for the 2020 games. they'll drop one sport based on criteria listed in a report on last summer's games in london look at tv ratings ticket sales and global participation among other factors. top sports rumored to be on the chopping block are the pentathlon, a combination of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shoeing and taekwondo. the last sports to be removed were softball to make way for rugby and golf which are making their first appearances in rio in 2016. >> officials have commented this morning, they say it is wrestling. they're dropping wrestling. >> bill: no! whoa. that's as old as -- >> that's one of the oldest ones that they have. but apparently when you look at viewership, people aren't watching much wrestling. >> which athlete is more disliked? lance armstrong or mantei te'o? they're on top of a nielsen poll of the top ten disliked athletes in america.

and any guesses as to who -- it is lance armstrong. he's number one. he's liked by only 15% of respondents. following te'o the number three most disliked tiger woods who has not been forgiven for his infidelity. not as bad as him jay cutler, metta world peace and michael vick. >> bill: headline in "the new york times," pope resigns with church at crossroads. that's old news by now. we talked about it yesterday morning. it is huge news. first time in over 600 years this has happened. father thomas reese, he was all over this yesterday. the first e-mails we got with the background of this, the history of it. what it means. implications for the church. father thomas reese is the senior fellow at the woodstock theological center and a good friend joining us on our news line this morning.

hey, father, good morning. >> good to be with you again bill. >> bill: so the pope -- i just want to play a quick byte here. this is the pope speaking through the translator yesterday morning at this meeting of the cardinals. and here's what he said was the reason for his stepping down. >> after having repeatedly examined my conscience before god, i have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the ministry. >> bill: so, father, this came as a surprise to you and to the rest of catholics worldwide? >> well, i think it came as a surprise because we weren't quite ready for it yesterday morning. on the other hand, i had predicted that something like this would happen sometime during the 21st century. modern medicine is capable of

keeping us alive much longer than we are able to do a job like being the pope because of our physical and mental abilities, just become diminished. we all have grandparents or parents that reach that age and simply can't do that kind of work anymore. i think the pope recognized this and for the good of the church, decided it was time for him to step aside. >> bill: but there have been other popes in our lifetime, right, who got so frail toward the end that they weren't able to function. even john john paul ii. what is it about this pope that he decided to step down? >> i think there are a couple of things going on there. with john paul ii he knew he was dying. i don't think benedict is so seriously ill that he's going to die but he could -- you know, live for another 10 years. he's got an older brother.

and being in the papacy and not to be up for the job. so i think he decided that it was best for the church to go at this point and let someone else carry the burden. >> bill: now as "the new york times" says, the church is at a crossroads in the sense that where the church used to be strong, it is not so much anymore and it is in a developing world in africa and in south america and in asia where the church is showing great growth. what does that say about a future pope? >> well, there's two theories here. one is you go and find somebody from africa where the church is truly growing. on the other hand, the other theory is no, you look for someone who can deal with the problems of the church, where it has real big problems, namely europe where it is in decline or

the united states where one out of three catholics has left the church. so i think that will be an argument that will take place in the conclave. >> bill: is there a lot of -- you think of the church as above politics. but is it and is there a lot of -- is there a lot of politicking that goes on in terms of selecting the next pope? >> well, i think that each candidate is looking for at least three things when they -- excuse me. each cardinal is looking for at least three things when he looks at the candidate. first, he's looking for someone who he thinks can really lead the church. of course that, means someone who agrees with him on the issues facing the church. >> bill: right. >> you know, someone who has the same values, same vision for the church. second, of course, he's looking for someone that he's comfortable with. it would be nice to have a friend. certainly, they're looking for

someone who listens to them. and third you know, as tip o'neil said, all politics is local. they're looking for someone who will be acceptable. be welcomed by the people of their own country. for example the last thing someone would want from a muslim country is a pope that says something dumb about muslims. that wouldn't be good for them. so they -- you know, there are some particularly local issues that each cardinal will be concerned about. >> bill: well, is it -- considered -- i hate to use the word kosher -- >> that's all right. >> jesus was jewish. it's okay. >> bill: there you go. is it considered kosher for a cardinal to campaign for pope? >> that's a no-no. if you campaign for pope, it looks like you're very proud and

arrogant. you know. i'm so good, i can be pope. >> so it won't go to barney frank then. >> barney's strategy wouldn't quite work. what barney should have done was got all of his friends to say he would be a great pope. then that would be the way its adonne. >> bill: now, given the fact that i forget -- i saw the number -- huge percentage of the current conclave of cardinals will have been appointed by benedict xvi or by john paul ii. so it is unlikely that whoever is chosen is going to make some radical change like allowing women to be priests. is that correct? >> absolutely. more than half of them from appointed by benedict and the rest, all of the rest were appointed by john paul ii. >> bill: whoa. >> which means they were at the last conclave that selected benedict. so there is not going to be any radical change.

what we will see is a change in personality. and in style. just as we saw a big change in personality and style when benedict was elected as opposed to the personality of john paul ii. >> bill: now, there is a striking photo i saw somewhere this morning of a bolt of lightning striking st. peter's dome. last night. is god trying to tell us something here? what's the significance of that? if anything? >> god speaks to us in many ways. for the last six centuries god has spoken to popes to retire them by having them die. i think -- you know, i think benedict is listening to god through his illness. i think we all do that as we reach old age. and diminishment. >> bill: we saw a sign of that last night. father, great to have you with us this morning. thank you so much for getting up

early for us. father thomas reese. you can follow him on twitter at thomasreesesj. proud member of the jesuits and former editor of "america" magazine. talk to you again soon. >> bye. >> bill: big news there. i love that lightning strike from the vatican last night. what's going on here? how dare you? >> get your butt back in there. you've got a job dude. >> i tell you when you retire. >> announcer: this is the full "full court press." live on your radio and on current tv. only on current tv. annual state of the union address. he'll address gun control, immigration reform, and the economy. we however, promise to bring you a current perspective.

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>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: can we turn the music up a little bit here? i just want everybody to know it is mardi gras. what are we doing here? why are we broadcasting from bourbon street? i'll bet it is already lively on bourbon street. >> i'm sure it is. >> bill: wherever you happen to be, it is mardi gras, especially in new orleans. welcome to the mardi gras edition of the "full court press." whatever that means. i should have worn my beads. i forgot all about it. >> you have to earn those beads bill. new orleans is one of my favorite cities on the planet. it is amazing. that being said, go there 364 days a year. mardi gras is insane! to go and visit new orleans. >> bill: i've never been there on mardi gras. i'll tell you who should be there. ted nugent should be anyplace other than washington, d.c.

today. you may have heard we've been talking about this. he's been invited, i think this is an outrage. i mean serious outrage and an insult to the american people as well as the president, as well as to every member of congress. steve stockman, crazy congressman from texas has invited ted nugent to be his guest at the state of the union tonight. this is ted nugent who threatened the life of the president of the united states. so many times, he's actually been investigated by the secret service. and here's the most recent thing. he said referring to president obama, comparing him to a coyote. >> it isn't the enemy that ruined america. it is good people who bent over and let the enemy in. if the coyote is in your living room pissing on your coach, it is not the coyote's fault. it is your fault for not shooting him. >> bill: shooting him. comments like that got him called in by the secret service and he is a guest of honor at

the state of the union tonight and john boehner is letting it happen. peter, i know that -- we've been swamped with comments. >> we have a lot of comments on twitter. we're at bpshow. one person tweeting says just remember, you're putting the blame not so much on stockman because he's always going to be crazy but boehner for allowing this to happen. boehner allowing nugent into the state of the union proves that they want to remain the party of stupid. >> bill: think about it. like if -- i'm just trying to think of who on the other side, who on the left, right? we don't have anybody as crazy as that that i can think of. somebody invited a leading -- in the days, black panther member, right. okay, leave their gun at the door but they're still espousing violence right? don't you think in those days, a tip o'neil -- >> there would have been an

outrage. someone who would call for violence against the president invited by a democratic congressman, there would have been an outrage. >> bill: invites charles manson. same thing. this is the time for john boehner to show some leadership and some respect and dignity to the president of the united states and to the united states congress. speaking of which we'll talk to congresswoman jan schakowsky next and get her take on this.

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>> bill: hey you get is. 33 minutes now after the hour on a tuesday morning. february 12. good to see you today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital in our studio here on capitol hill. with this special combined mardi gras and state of the union edition of the "full court press." it is always a big day in washington, d.c. no matter who the president is, for the state of the union. where the president gets to tell us how we're doing and where he would like to see the country head in the next couple of years in the audience tonight along with every member of congress. good friend, congresswoman jan schakowsky from illinois who is on our news line this morning. hey, congresswoman, always good to talk to you. >> thanks. good morning. >> bill: i want to start with guests of honor tonight at the state of the union. you, congresswoman, will be welcoming caroline murray who is

one of -- unfortunately far too many parents in chicago who have lost their son or daughter to violence -- gun violence in the streets. congressman steve stockman from texas will be welcoming a man he calls a patriot to tonight's state of the union ted nugent. >> mm-hmm. >> bill: here's a little clip of ted nugent, what he had to say at a rock concert last year about secretary of state hillary clinton. >> hey hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you bitch. >> bill: for our listeners who might not have understood every word. he has a machine gun in his hand. he's saying hey hillary you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch. does he belong at the state of the union tonight? >> not only did he do that but he called the gun violence victims, their parents or relatives that are going to be

in the audience tonight props. he said that the president is going to stack the hall with props and caroline murray is about as far from a prop, a grieving mother who has also been -- even before her 19-year-old son justin, was killed by the way, i live in evanston. she's in evanston. this is a suburb of chicago. >> bill: yes, i've been there. >> she's one of two moms that is coming as my guest to washington. caroline will be at the state of the union. but she was organizing a gun buyback in our town even before justin was killed. and so now she's going to be there as the face of what this gun violence means. the kind of thing that ted nugent, i guess wants to perpetrate because he runs around with -- you know, an

assault weapon. it is frightening. it is frightening. >> bill: he also of course, threatened the life of the president of the united states. was called in and investigated by the secret service. again, you know, the tradition of inviting guests to the state of the union has always been people that we should look up to and honor and respect and thank. military heroes, sports heroes. in this case, people who have been the victims of gun violence. are there any standards for who people can invite? >> no, no. each one of us gets a ticket. so we can you know, give that ticket to a guest. there are standards people have to go through thank goodness. mag nattometer to make sure he's not carrying a gun. ted nugent cannot go in there --

>> bill: thank god for that. >> there is a certain amount of physical screening but no, you can invite an unsavory person like him. >> bill: it may be asking too much congresswoman, i don't want to beat this to death but it may be asking too much but it seems to me the speaker of the house should have -- you know, some -- should show some respect for the other members of the house or other members of congress in saying you know, this just goes too far right. we have a certain dignity of the congress we ought to respect. >> i want to tell you though. and i'm putting on a political hat now. i think that a person like ted nugent does us a favor. i really do. i think that he is so outside what most people think is acceptable behavior that when he talks that way as a spokesperson for why we should have these kinds of military-style weapons and -- i actually think he's

such a turnoff to most americans. >> bill: turns people off. >> that he actually may be helping us in the long run. i just hope he keeps his mouth shut. >> bill: if he doesn't they'll carry him out. >> oh, yeah. >> what are you looking forward to tonight? the inaugural address was a bold progressive agenda that this is going to continue in that tradition. is that what we can expect tonight, do you think? >> i absolutely think so. that this is going to flush out a bit the messages he had at his inaugural address. it will focus more on the economy. on an economy that works for everyone. and unlike his first state of the union address after his first inauguration, this is going to be in a moment of economic recovery. not as strong as we want.

i think it's going to be optimistic. we're going to see -- manufacturing is up. 28 straight months of job growth. nearly six million new jobs. and this is -- by the way everything that's being threatened now by the republicans with these crazy cliffs that they have -- that they have established. >> one after the other. >> right. he's going to be talking i understand, about four new initiatives that are going to help restore the middle class. education. infrastructure, clean energy, manufacturing. and he's going to focus on growth as a way to reduce the deficit and get our economy moving. you know, the republicans are absolutely focused almost entirely on spending cuts. and we think that for balance there ought to be revenue. but the third legs of economic recovery is growth. >> bill: sure.

>> that requires investment in the things that are going to create jobs. so you know, jobs equal deficit reduction. so i think it's going to be something that is going to not only cause a lot of us to stand up but i hope that people watching at home, the middle class is going to stand up and say yeah, this is about me. >> bill: but you know also, that has always been a republican theme in the past, right, before president obama started. it is a way to grow the economy is through new investment, right. continuing to grow, continuing to expand. if we don't we just stagnate and go backwards you know. that's a real conservative idea. economically. >> yes. but the problem is that we can't solve the federal budget problem by creating budget problems for american families and businesses and seniors and the middle class. you know. if you cut what they want to cut

from the budget, the cbo says we could go into a double-dip recession. well obviously that's not where we want to go. spending cuts in the last quarter actually were the thing that made the economy dip in terms of growth. we've seen -- in the united kingdom, in england that the austerity program did cause a double-dip recession there. and so their economic medicine is really dangerous. it is pretty poisonous for our economy. >> bill: i just have to tell you, just reading the book called the patriarch about joseph kennedy and it has a lot of course, about his time with franklin roosevelt. we know historically, that's what happened with fdr coming out of the depression. first, there was a great new deal of programs and then the economy started coming back and people -- some people told the president now you've got to slow down. we have to go back to austerity.

he did and we went back into another recession. so the message -- history is loud and clear on the subject. i do want to ask you about one other issue before we let you go. that is the violence against women act. it got out of the senate yesterday i believe in some form. a little better than it was. but it comes to the house and everybody is saying that there's no way house republicans are going to allow it. let's get an up-or-down vote in the house. do you think any chance of getting it passed? >> well, you know, eric cantor says that he's against violence against women. you know, we'll see if it gets an up-or-down vote. i can't imagine that with the woman problem they already have, talking about the republicans that they're going to actually vote no against something that has been bipartisan for well over a decade now. so i don't -- i think that if it actually gets called, that it

will likely pass. what they'll do to it though, if they're going to try to taken the rights of women away, i don't know. or immigrant women. these are some additions important additions we made to the bill. i'm telling you i think that women -- even on the gun issue -- on climate change, that women are going to be the key to 2014 and the 2016 elections because we can't take anymore from them. >> bill: amen. women -- not just women but women in particular care about every one of those issues. congresswoman, we'll be watching tonight. we'll watch when you stand up and cheer. we'll be cheering with you. >> looking forward to it. thank you so much. bye-bye, bill. >> bill: she's the greatest, representing the area just outside of chicago.

you can follow her on twitter too, at jan schakowsky. everybody is on twitter. even us at bpshow. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. [ piano plays ] troy polamalu's going deeper. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ piano plays ] troy polamalu's going deeper. ♪ ♪ and so is head & shoulders deep clean.

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the president will deliver the annual state of the union address. he'll address gun control,

immigration reform, and the economy. we however, promise to bring you a current perspective. only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: it is 12 minutes before the top of the hour. looking forward to the next hour. another great hour here on the "full court press" with senator sherrod brown from ohio.

our own joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund talking about the nuclear test that north korea did not announce but we know took place and also talking about the president tonight in his state of the union expected to announce a major reduction in the u.s. nuclear arsenal. back to those and other issues here in just a second. but first, here we go. identity theft again raises its ugly head this time in the state of illinois. the owner of an illinois used car dealership. always said you couldn't trust people who sell used cars. in this one you can't trust this guy. he's been charged with seven counts of identity theft for using his customer's information to take out phony car loans himself. you hear that? and you know, identity theft is real. it is everywhere you need to be protected against it like i am. with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. but lifelock can't protect

you or your bank accounts if you're not a member. call now and mention press60 and you'll get 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection. if you're not happy call them within 60 days and cancel and you'll get a full refund. see lifelock.com for details and call them at 1-800-356-5967. >> a little bit of news to mention because we talked about the state of the union a lot today. it is going to be happening tonight. our friends at think progress will be blogging it. thinkprogress.org. the white house has announced they'll have an enhanced state of the union. you can watch it at white house.gov/sotu. what they'll do is as the president is speaking, they'll be able to put up graphics and data and other statistics that

sort of back up what he is saying as he speaks. so they'll have the speech there. you can watch it as he's saying it on your computer. as he says it, they'll be helping you out with the graphics along the way. >> bill: because the president won't be holding up any charts. >> he won't be holding up any charts this evening. no. >> bill: you can do it like the anchors do when they're talking about something and all of the graphics come up. >> bill: no visual aids. >> white house.gov/sotu, you'll have everything you need there. >> bill: so here's another story that caught my attention this morning. which i just find fascinating. i hope you find interesting too. headline on the front page of "the new york times" and i'm a frequent flier. i fly a lot for business, for pleasure, right. this headline caught my attention. airline industry at its safest since the dawn of the jet age. do you realize that globally --

i didn't know this. globally, last year was the safest year for commercial air travel since 1945. last year, worldwide, there were 23 accidents and 475 fatalities. that's the lowest since 1945. but get this. in the last five years the death risk for passengers in the united states has been one in 45 million flights. so you had a risk of losing your life on a commercial airline one in 45 million flights. you know, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting killed on an airplane today. in fact, this professor of statistics at mit figured it out. flying today is so safe and so reliable that a traveler -- this

blows my mind. a traveler could fly every day for an average of 123,000 years before being in a fatal crash. every day for 123,000 years. before being in a fatal crash. so i mean it is the safest form of travel today. i would like to see the numbers comparing it to how safe it is to ride in a car. >> i'm sure it is a lot more dangerous. >> we've all had accidents in the car. the majority of us have. >> bill: some kind of an accident right? but i mean this is just -- just phenomenal. so it's safer than train car bus, motorbike motorcycle, scooter. >> safer than walking. >> but also says something -- for the technology has gotten so

good. >> bill: the airlines have their safety procedures down. >> they do. and it's regulated. you can't just have a company that -- >> bill: it's regulated. >> to give you discount airlines flights and not have the oversight of somebody else double checking. >> bill: the faa is doing a good job. the government is doing a good job. and also they won't allow you to fly in certain weather conditions. and the radar and those bad weather technology, you know, whatever, for the pilots has gotten a lot better. there you go. imagine that. >> every time somebody whines about how they're scared of air travel, let them know the statistics. >> bill: fly the friendly skies and the safe skies. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. in the next hour, senator sherrod brown recently re-elected from the state of ohio will be here to preview the state of the union address as well as talk about other topics. and then joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund, lots to talk to joe about today including the latest nuclear test by north korea, the president's expected proposal tonight to reduce our own arsenal of nuclear arms and the administration's policy on using drones to kill american citizens overseas. on the president's schedule today, just two things on the public schedule. his daily briefing this morning at 10:is a and then -- at 10:15

he'll no doubt be doing rehearsals -- not on the public schedule. usually doing rehearsals in the movie theatre of the white house. all getting ready for the state of the union address tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. 6:00 p.m. pacific. and then marco rubio is going to give the republican response afterwards. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ]

>> bill: what do you say in good morning everybody. great to see you today on this tuesday, february 12. this is the "full court press." welcome to the program. we're coming to you live on current tv all across this great land ours. bringing you up to date on all of the big stories of the day. it is a very special day. it is mardi gras. it is the state of the union day. and it is rgiii's 23rd birthday. getting to be such an old man he won't be able to play football anymore. all right. so tonight president obama expected to give -- put forth a very aggressive, progressive agenda in the state of the union. he will also tell us the state of the union is strong which it is. and catholics still reeling from yesterday's announcement of pope benedict xvi is stepping down. you can't blame him. it hasn't happened for at least 600 years. so got something to get used to. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here. standing by with today's current

news update out in los angeles lisa ferguson. hi lisa. good morning again. >> good morning, everyone. one looming question for the president's state of the union address tonight how will he tackle climate change? hurricane sandy survivors have teamed up with environmentalled advocates to demand action from the president. the groups delivered nearly 300,000 signatures to the white house telling obama it is time to do something about global warming. environmental group forecast the fact says the best way to start is to reject the keystone pipeline and to rebuild new york and new jersey. white house aides have reportedly told environmental organizations they're going to like what they hear in today's address. that likely means investing in clean energy. one of the few areas the president has legal authority if he fails to get anything through congress. new york also coming underfire for some environmental issues. in the coming days, governor andrew cuomo will define whether to improve fracking regulations

in the state. now, more than 135 environmental groups are joining forces to hit cuomo in iowa. they're taking out a full page ad in the des moines register reading not one well and telling cuomo this is his chance to be a national leader on climate. cuomo is a potential presidential contender for 2016 and he will come under intense fire from liberals and environmentalists if he permits hydro fracking in new york state. more bill press is coming up live after the break. we're in our chat room, current.com/billpress. see you there.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: so it is fat tuesday.

and the state of the union is strong. there you go. that sums it up. tuesday, february 12. [ laughter ] >> bill: hey great to see you, everybody. thank you for joining here on the "full court press" this tuesday morning. good to have you with us as we tackle the big stories of the day coming all across this great land of ours on your local progressive talk radio station nationwide and of course on current tv. yes, current tv is still around and going to be here for awhile. thank you for joining us. if you want to join the conversation we invite your calls at 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. we invite your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. when we are pleased and proud to welcome back to the program a good friend of the program newly re-elected to the united states senate with a little help from all of you out there and all of us -- >> a lot of you. >> bill: senator sherrod brown.

>> thank you. >> bill: everything good? >> things are good. looking forward to the state of the union. it is a bit of a celebration for our country every year, that everybody makes -- some people don't clap much. many clap too much. it is a little bit overdone. i'm sorry for that. >> bill: we all turn off our phones. >> i apologize for that. that was my wife. >> if you need to take that. >> she's at the airport. she's fine. i called her a few minutes ago. she's calling back. i told her i was going to be on bill press. she didn't quite catch the time. not to blame her. the state of the union really is a celebration. it is, in that way. good thing for our country. >> i must say. >> bill: i should have taken the call because i've never met your wife but she came up to me at the inauguration ceremony and said hello introduced herself. it was great to meet her. >> my wife is a very good writer. pulitzer prize winner and writes for parade and she's actually

going to meet with parade on some things. >> bill: good to you have here >> bring her along next time. >> bill: we've got peter ogborn with dan henning. and phil backert has the phones. cyprian bowlding with the video cam. before we get to the politics of the day washington's becoming a pretty big sport. we were always joking about the wizards. suddenly the wizards are showing new life. the former bullets. >> yeah. it was interesting because -- >> bill: they won four in a row on the road. everybody is excited. >> we'll take them. >> press is old enough to remember washington first -- first in war first in peace and last in the american league. he remembers -- you weren't living here then but you're old enough to remember that. >> we used to have a really good hockey team. the capitals.

they're terrible. the wizards started out with the worst record in basketball. as soon as wahl started playing they jumped on fire. >> bill: game last night where they beat the bucks. dave johnson giving one -- >> 7:00. at the foul line. jumper is off. right wing for three. he's open! he scores! another three by bradley. 77-71, wizards on ton. he was wide open. >> bill: i'm sorry. >> i don't take it that way. i'm a cleveland fan. hope springs eternal. indians have made some interesting off-season moves. they need a better pitching staff. they're working on it. one of my greatest things in life was to go to the world series with my dad and my daughters and -- because if you grew up in cleveland you don't expect to see a world series. we had a bad series of teams for 40 years. so those memories, i know the

washington nationals were fun last year. >> they were a lot of fun. >> if you would let your pitcher pitch. instead of sitting him down. what kind of players? >> i'm with you senator. >> remember, again -- remember when they would pitch 300 innings. if they pitch 200 they're workhorses. they eat up the innings. i mean really. >> bill: i said let strasbourg pitch. we'll win this year. we'll worry about it later. >> let rgiii play quarterback. >> put him back out there! as long as he can get up. do you remember jim brown? every play, remember jim brown for the cleveland -- all right. let's talk something else here. we need women on the show that might get us on track. >> bill: all right sports fans enough sports talk. this big -- this big pageantry

tonight -- i gotta start here senator because this is the thing that bugs the hell out of me today. it is a tradition starting with ronald reagan and lenny sputnik. you remember that. >> the guy in the gallery. >> bill: guest of honor. people you would be proud of and people we want to thank and respect. steve stockman tonight this congressman from texas has invited ted nugent to be his guest at the state of the union. here's ted nugent at a concert last year. talking about president obama. >> obama. suck on this. obama. he's a piece of [ bleep ] >> bill: he says obama you may want to suck on one of these, you bum and calls him a piece of crap. this guy is a guest at the state of the union? >> i think the best thing to do with him is never talk about

him. to ignore him tonight. to ignore him on the show. to just -- it is outrageous. it is all of that. the guy -- more than meig, he wants attention. don't give it to him. >> bill: why would boehner let him in? >> i don't know. i don't get the far right and how filled with hate they are toward so much -- so many in this country. they hate government. they hate medicare. they say they like medicare and social security but we know they don't want to preserve it. these are elected -- this is an elected government that makes mistakes surely. but to have that venom toward any of these values that we hold dear as a nation. and how -- for decades, we had consensus on civil rights. there were differences certainly. but consensus on the environment. belief in science. and this right wing crowd doesn't want to buy into any of this. >> bill: you know what really offends me tonight so there will be parents of the kids who were shot down and killed in newtown, connecticut right. then you're going to have ted nugent who called them props.

parents in chicago who have lost their kids. another city. calls them all props. >> a number of people every day that die from gun violence. >> bill: it is just sick for the republicans to allow him to come in. so what are you looking forward to tonight? what are you expecting? >> i was going to talk about the issues you just mentioned. to me, it is always about jobs and the economy. we're still -- we lost -- you've heard me say this far too many times. we lost five million manufacturing jobs from 2000 until 2010. we've gained about 500,000 of them back. that's really the ticket for so many americans the middle class. it is not the only answer. when we see wages decline and we see so many people able to keep up in life, manufacturing jobs, you know, higher tech manufacturing jobs, jobs that sort of advance manufacturing that's the kind of thing the president has supported. i hope focuses on tonight. i think fundamentally -- green

energy certainly part of that. i think fundamentally, what happened at the end of the year and the december 31st tax vote was the congress finally said trickle down doesn't work. tax cuts for the rich don't really trickle down to the middle class and build the economy. what works is a focus on the middle class and growing out from here. that's what poll numbers say. that's what congress said in that vote at the end of the year. that we were actually raising taxes on the wealthy. no more tax cuts for the rich. focus on the middle class. it means trade enforcement. focus on manufacturing and focus on clean energy. it means infrastructure, all of this ings that made our country great in the post-war years. we grew at such a rate because we built infrastructure. we invested in people. we passed civil rights legislation. we set up medicare and medicaid. all of those things that happened in the late 40s into the mid late 60s really put us in a long-term growing trend in this country. and we need to look at things in

many ways that -- in that direction. >> bill: i was at the briefing yesterday at the white house and jay carney said the president said this many times. he believes you grow the economy not from the top down but from the middle class, out. all of his policies and programs, his focus is on that. right? empowering the middle class. >> a group of us had a meeting to talk about how we move forward to stop sequestration and to get our economy on track. carl levin, senator from michigan who is really about as ideal a minute of the senate as there is. >> bill: absolutely. >> was talking about -- he's done ten years of work on this. how we close these loopholes. and that are bad policy and cost us money. for instance, if you shut down a plant in toledo, ohio, or warren ohio, you move it to beijing, you get so you can deduct the cost of the move against your federal taxes. you can deduct the cost of the construction of the plant in beijing. you can deduct the cost of

operating the plant and you can keep your profits in overseas and pay no taxes until you bring them back to the united states. if you ever do. >> bill: so we're rewarding people for exporting jobs. >> we're incentivizing thing. we're incentivizing people to move jobs. it is costing the treasury a lot of money. it is destroying communities. those tax breaks, we've seen for the first time that i know of in recorded history where the business plan of a whole lot of companies is to shut down production here, move it oversays and then sell the products -- overseas and then sell the products back to here. business never did that until the last 25 years. we've built a whole economic, political machine around it. so the economics are such that there's incentives to do it. in the political power rests with those companies who does it and don't want to change the rules because they've written the rules so it works for them. their bottom line. it doesn't work for communities. it doesn't work for their workers. >> bill: if you were able to take the loopholes and i guess

senator levin has done it, and also the advantages in parking money offshore like mitt romney did. exporting jobs. the oil and gas industry. if you could just close all of those loopholes, you could probably balance a budget and rebuild this economy like overnight. >> it would certainly eliminate the problems in sequester. there are some other things you need to do. there are some that are more controversial that even progressive members don't always agree on. some of the fundamental ones, yes, it would eliminate -- it would deal with the sequester issue. it would mean more jobs. once you have -- the whole point is if you're growing the economy, tax revenues come in and expenditures go down because you're not paying unemployment. you're not paying food stamps and you're not doing the section eight housing, all of the things into unemployed people need, they're now working and paying taxes. >> bill: i mentioned running into your wife at the inauguration. the inaugural address of the president surprised me pleasantly.

i thought it was a very progressive agenda. i call it the liberal manifesto or progressive manifesto. he talked about climate change, immigration reform and gun safety. he talked about jobs. he talked about same-sex marriage. pretty bold speech. do you think tonight is going to be that same barack obama? >> i hope so. probably more prescriptive tonight. wide strokes there because it was the inauguration. seems a lot more specific. i think continuing in that direction, i heard some of the conservative pundits over the weekend saying things like nothing's going to get done because republicans won't go along with anything. like nixon went to china obama's got to go after entitlements. i don't think that's the word i use. i talk medicare, medicaid, social security. >> bill: earned benefits. >> it is earned benefits. investments and insurance. social insurance. but their view is if you do it their way, if you go after --

you go after -- you raise the retirement age for social security or medicare, you cut benefits. you shift costs on to seniors. then the republicans will go along. we had an election and president obama's inaugural speech was about what the country voted for. he won by -- he wanted a state by ohio to win. that's not insignificant. he won an electoral college landslide. the republicans are saying do you it our way then we'll work with you. no. we need to compromise to be sure. the fundamental things, you grow the economy from the middle class outward. that has to be part of his theme. i think it will be tonight. i think he will continue moving that direction. >> senator sherrod brown from ohio. our guest in studio. rare that you get a chance toes the question to a united states senator. here is your opportunity at 1-866-55-press. we'll continue with -- what we might expect from the president tonight and is there anything there that republicans might be

ready to go along with? it is the "full court press" tuesday morning february 12th. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. (vo) only on current tv. converstion started next. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund will be joining us in the next segment of the show. talking about among other things, about the president expected tonight to announce plans to reduce our nuclear arsenal from 1700 to 1,000 long-range missiles.

peter, senator sherrod brown here in studio as our guest this tuesday morning. >> we're on twitter at bpshow at bpshow. we're talking about the big night tonight. talking about mardi gras, of course. state of the union going on. we threw out there on twitter what do you want to hear the president talk about in his state of the union address this evening. teamster says call out the g.o.p. on their obstruction of what americans want. keep calling them out on their denial of reality. joe proctor says explain to the american people how growth is the issue and why austerity is not the answer. give a short course in economics 101. our friend, comedian dean own dela wants to hear increased minimum wage plan for making college education more affordable and tax reform and job growth and lots of other comments there at bpshow. one other quick comment michelle o'neil says you have an awesome senator on air. my home state senator sherrod brown. >> way to go, michelle o'neil. >> theme running through all of that was growth and not

austerity. it is just amazing to me that the far right seems to continue thinking you can cut your way to prosperity. it hasn't worked anywhere in the world. we know if we invest, you look at -- again, you look at the growth in the '40s, '50s, '60s. we put huge amounts of money in highways and sewer and g.i. bill and education and housing and look at the kind of growth we have. we haven't seen anything like it since. >> bill: senator, i'm old enough to remember -- >> to coin a phrase. >> bill: when christine whitman gave the response to the state of the union and everybody said there is a new savior with the republican party. then bobby jindal was tapped to give the response. there is the new savior of the republican party. tonight, marco rubio. a new savior. can the party be saved? >> you remember when william jennings bryant gave the response. the new savior of the democratic party. you see this repackaging, eric cantor goes out and makes this speech. they all want to kinder will,

gentler republican party. they're still hostile to marriage equality. they still want to -- they still want to shift medicare costs to seniors and privatize social security. they still want more tax cuts for the rich. until they change some policies, they're going to continue to have this infighting. they can have a really -- they can have a really handsome charismatic guy like marco rubio. that's not enough until they have a different set of practices and values. >> bill: reading in this issue of the new republic, sam has an issue about the problems with the g.o.p. pointing out that mitt romney failed to get a single vote in 91 precincts in new york city. 59 precincts in philadelphia, did not get a single vote. lost 11 out of the 15 largest cities including columbus, ohio. >> he had -- i think -- i don't know this, i think i read close to maybe about a dozen precincts in cleveland that he had no votes.

romney got no votes. they don't appeal -- they've got demographic -- first of all have race problems. they think passing immigration is going to mean latinos love them. they've got a whole lot of set of other issues there. they've got young voters problem especially. >> bill: that's it. gotta be it. senator sherrod brown, great to have you. we'll see you tonight at the state of the union. come on back again soon. >> thank you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." billy zane stars in barabbas.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the

hour now on the "full court press." >> wake up! >> bill: are we -- >> you're on tv! >> bill: is this live? is this on? here we go. the "full court press" this tuesday morning february 12. good to see you today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. it is mardi gras nationwide. it is state of the union time in washington, d.c. everybody geared up for it. including joe cirincione from the ploughshares fund. our good friend and frequent guest. joe, good to see you again. >> my pleasure. thanks a lot bill. >> bill: very spiffy this morning. >> thank you, sir. >> bill: didn't you know it is dress down tuesday? >> it is state of the union. everybody dres up. well almost. >> bill: don't look around here anyhow. so first of all what headline this morning picking up that looks like north korea, the last people you want to have -- their finger anywhere near the nuclear button right has come up with

another nuclear test. is this confirmed? what is the story? >> it is confirmed. i got calls about 11:00 last night, the first seismic station set up with the comprehensive band treaty organization which monitors devices. picked it up. broadcast the news. we've now pinpointed it. it is at the test site. it is a similar seismic signal for the first two tests. estimates are coming in on the yield of this test. >> bill: underground? >> underground nuclear tests. nobody has tested above ground for decades. so underground we estimated someplace around seven kilo tons maybe ten kilotons in comparison the hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons. this is a first generation device. >> bill: still pretty big. >> it would knock out lower manhattan. >> bill: if this wouldn't scare the hell out of you. cyprian, i don't know what to do

for you to get a shot of this? >> just keep it there. >> bill: this is "huffington post." i'm okay? >> you're okay where you are. >> bill: there has been a nuclear test. look at this idiot. that's enough to scare -- >> kim jong-un. grandson of the original founder of north korea. he's testing defying international -- >> bill: this is the guy you want to be lobbying, testing nuclear weapons. >> this is what's worrying -- this is the third test they've done. now they're starting to get close to weaponization. so lots of people can set off a device and they claim this is a miniaturized device. that is that they made progress in actually shrinking it down to the size where you could put it on a cone head of a missile. >> bill: why are they doing this and why did they do it today? >> they still haven't made enough progress to get a usable weapon, something small enough to put on a missile or plane.

>> bill: but that's where they're heading. >> that's why this is worrisome and it should be worrisome to china. we can get into that if you like. why they did it today? it is not really an anniversary for them. the 16th is the anniversary of kim kim jong-un. this is the day of the president's state of the union address. speculation is they're trying to step on president obama's publicity. >> bill: because they knew he was going to talk about nuclear weapons maybe? >> and to sort of -- a lot of this is all about desperate attempt to get some prestige top of the show that they're a leading nation in the world. they did this four years ago. in april of 2009 right before the president gave his first nuclear policy speech. his first foreign policy speech of any kind in prague. >> bill: do you think the president will mention this? >> almost certainly. >> bill: as a growing threat, right? >> in many ways, it underscores the president's agenda. you have to prevent new states from getting these weapons. you have to secure all nuclear

material to stop nuclear terrorism. and you have to reduce the 17,000 nuclear weapons there are in the world today. >> bill: "the new york times" reporting yesterday only place i've seen it reported by the way that the president plans to propose a further reduction of america's nuclear arsenal. what do you hear? >> that's exactly what i hear. there was a story actually earlier in the center for public integrity broke the story last friday. "new york times." then picked it up. david sanger there at the times. it is clear that the president has decided that we can safeguard america's security with far lower levels of nuclear weapons. we have about 1700 strategic weapons right now. and the president's plan would cut that by about a third. go down to about 1,000. that's still 1,000 hydrogen bombs on missile subs and long-range bombers more than we need to protect u.s. national security. >> bill: it seems that would do the job right? 1,000 of them. >> it would save us tens of billions of dollars over this decade and hundreds of billions

of dollars over the next few decades. >> bill: would the joint chiefs go along with this? >> they have gone along with this. we know with a fairly high degree of certainty even when the president was negotiating the new start agreement the chiefs were comfortable going to a lower level. the chiefs can execute all of their war plans at the level the president's talking about which is about 1,000 nuclear weapons. >> bill: how do you get there? does this require -- are we talking about a new treaty with the soviets so that they would reduce also? >> we call them russians now. >> bill: i'm sorry. i'm old enough to remember when they were soviets. >> there is a reason you say that. we're still talking about the cold war. this is a soviet arsenal. only reason we have this many weapons is because we're sizing it against this soviet arsenal that now the russians still have. so here's the trick. this is where -- i don't know if the president will get into it. how do you do that? you don't have to have a treaty to do this. it will take two or three years to negotiate it.

you can do a mutual agreement the way george w. bush did. you announce reductions, the russians announce their own reductions. you can do it unilaterally. people forget. he unely laterally -- he unilaterally reshaped the force. the president has a lot of options. that's what we'll be looking for. >> bill: i had forget than george w. bush did this. so it was not like -- i would see politically there could be some risk for obama president obama to do it unilaterally. people would say maybe if they reduce their number, we could reduce ours, too. we should not unilaterally disarm right? >> right. >> nobody's going to disarm. the president's talking point has to be we're not going to let the russians dictate the size of our force. we're not going to keep a force larger than we need and spend tens of billions. >> bill: how many do they have? >> about the same amount. they actually have fewer long-range weapons deployed right now. about 1400 to our 1700.

so we -- and they're going down. we know their arsenal is retiring faster than ours. by the end of this decade, they'll be down to about 1,000 which is why the president can say to the russians, we will follow you down. >> bill: so is he going -- is the president going to then call on president putin to let's get together and talk about a joint reduction? or is he just going to say we don't need this many. we the united states, we're taking this step. >> he could do either. he could do a combination. he could announce cuts and they're meeting at least twice over the next six months so they have ample opportunity to see each other. on their schedule -- they're scheduled to both be at major international meetings and they'll have sidebars during those meetings. >> bill: you know, 1,000 is still a lot. >> it is many more than we need. former vice-chairman of the joint chiefs, james cartwright says let's go down to 450 in a report he issued a few months ago.

one of the cosigners of that report was chuck hagel the next secretary of defense. >> bill: the vote today actually senate armed services committee. here we are. 2:30 this afternoon, the committee is going to vote on its recommendation. whether or not it will recommend senator hagel to the floor to be the next secretary of defense. you've been very involved, supporting senator hagel. what's your vote count? >> he'll pass -- he'll be a party line vote in the committee. i don't see any republicans voting for him in the committee but he still passes the democrats have a two-vote majority and then there will be a lot of posturing by the republicans. some have vowed to block his vote on the floor threatening a filibuster. >> bill: lindsey graham, whoop-de-do. >> no cabinet nominee has ever been filibustered in u.s. -- in modern u.s. history. we could expect a floor vote probably on thursday. he will get at least 57 votes

we know for sure. i'm expecting some were in the mid-60s. i think a number of republicans will vote for him. maybe even john mccain who has not yet announced. >> bill: inhoff has said, senator inhoff that he might and lindsey graham said the same thing. put a hold on the nomination. even if it clears the committee. >> yes. >> bill: i'm a little embarrassed. i don't know how a hold works to this point. if you get 60 votes, you can override a filibuster. >> yes. >> bill: can you override a hold? >> a hold is a courtesy. it is a tradition. the majority leader will respect a senator's request. >> bill: for how long? >> well, that's -- how much respect do you have? [ laughter ] >> bill: james inhofe and lindsey graham deserve no respect. they don't show any respect for the institution. >> it is pretty clear that harry reid and the senate majority

leader -- the leader in the senate wants to push this vote. the president wants it. we're going to be without a secretary of defense if we don't do this. leon panetta retired. i think it will go through. thursday is my guess. >> bill: all right. we've got nuclear with a nuclear test. president obama speaking about a reduction of our nuclear arsenal. nuclear arsenal tonight. and chuck hagel up for a vote today. we didn't even get to drones yet. we have a little more time here with joe cirincione. time for your calls at 1-866-55-press. on this special mardi gras state of the union edition of the "full court press." >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." people with sore throats have something new to say. ahh ! mmm !

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is the "full court press." and it is mardi gras. we've had very little mardi gras music this morning here. what's going on? >> no beads no nothing. >> bill: one little flash. >> i'm sure -- >> still time to go. >> i'm sure we could come out -- >> bill: i don't know. 13 minutes before the top of the hour. getting close. happy mardi gras and state of the union here. joe cirincione is in studio with us. we're talking some of the important issues that the president might be talking about tonight in the state of the union. and we'll get back to that and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. but first you know, i have this -- always looking for articles dealing with identity theft. here is another one.

out of michigan. you think your mail is safe, of course right? a woman making deliveries for local publications is suspected of stealing w-2s and other identity-related documents from mailboxes out in michigan and then using that information to file for false credit cards. again, further evidence of the fact you need to be protected against identity theft like i am. with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. even covers your bank accounts but of course, they can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. if you call now and mention press 60, you'll get 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection and the deal is if you're not happy give them a call within 60 days and cancel. you get a full refund. see lifelock for details. call them at 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. peter ogborn with his eye on

twitter. facebook. >> yeah. you guys were just talking about the state of the union. what you can expect to see on that. one story that caught my eye that people were talking about on twitter. eliot engel congressman from new york he's notorious aisle hog. he wants to have the aisle seat so that he can be the one shaking the president's hand when -- >> bill: sheila jackson -- they're probably right there right now. >> that's funny that you mention it. he shows up at 10:00 a.m. to get his seat for the speech later on that evening. at 9:00 at night. 10:00 a.m. to 9:00, he gets his seat so he can have that spot on the aisle. >> bill: get a life. >> speaking of state of the union, jake tapper reporting this morning that the president will announce tonight 34,000 troops will be coming home from afghanistan. >> bill: next year. >> next year. >> bill: we're supposed to be

out of there by the end of the year right? >> over the next -- >> yeah, yeah. over the course of this year. same time line on it. >> 66,000 troops in afghanistan. people forget this. still a major war going on in afghanistan. so that would be more than half of troops coming home over the next year. and now there is somewhat of a debate between the pentagon and the white house about how many troops will remain after 2014. the president has promised by the end of 2014, the combat operations in afghanistan will end. is there any kind of residual force left at all? that's what their discussion is about. >> bill: the issue last week at the briefings and i wrote my column about it, too is the use of drones, the president -- the obama administration claims the same -- that the authority -- that the authorization for the use of force after september 11th passed by congress, the same authority used by george

bush to justify torture and rendition and wiretapping, the obama administration claims the use of that authority gives them the authority to send drones to kill american citizens overseas with no due process no trial no chance for them to make their case. is it the right policy? >> i don't think it is. we've had more discussion and more information about drones in the last week than maybe we've had in the last few years which is good. >> we're saying what exactly are we doing here? there are various -- the u.s. military and the c.i.a. have used these drones to kill scores of high-level terrorist leaders. but there is a huge downside. it is the innocent civilians that are killed and now, it is a questionable use of them against people who are american citizens and the claim by the executive branch that they can do this. execute an american without any semblance of due process. >> bill: and justify it by saying well, we couldn't

capture -- it would be difficult or impossible to capture them. and that they're an imminent threat. when you look in the paper as to what constitutes an imminent threat, it is not really an imminent threat. sometime in the future they might be a threat. pretty scary stuff. >> there is definitely constitutional issues here and whether -- just because this person is in yemen, we can kill them. if they were in the bronx can we kill them? what's the difference there? and also the blowback issue. many, many people believe that the drone attacks in pakistan have enraged the pakistani population against the united states. >> bill: some people are talking about maybe what we should do is set up a little -- some special court like the court where you're -- george bush didn't do it but you're supposed to go to the court to get permission to do domestic wiretapping that we would have some sort of a review court where the pentagon or c.i.a. or whomever would go to that court to say we think -- this is

american citizen in ghana or wherever. we know is planning attacks against the united states. we think we should take him out and get their approval. >> that's the way rather than leaving it to the president. right now the president personally approves the kill list. you know. some accountability there. it is not the kind of power that constitutionally we normally think is vested in the executive office. >> bill: certainly not the kind of power i want to give to any future president. >> that's right. >> bill: i might think obama might make the right decision but what about the next person? exactly. joe cirincione, always great to have you in studio. we cover a lot of ground. get in a lot of trouble. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me on a busy tuesday. >> bill: ploughshares fund. it is ploughshares.org. english spelling. thanks. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

the president will deliver the annual state of the union address. he'll address gun control, immigration reform, and the economy. we however, promise to bring you a current perspective. only on current tv.

>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, we've been talking a lot about it today. yes, the state of the union is tonight. but to a certain extent, the event has already been ruined because there is a turd in the punch bowl. congressman steve stockman, republican from texas has invited ted nugent as his guest. yes, this is a man who threatened the life of the president of the united states verbally attacked hillary clinton.